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Danforth Center Welcomes New Principal Investigator

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

As expansion efforts continue to advance, the Danforth Center has hired Andrea Eveland, Ph.D., as a principal investigator and assistant member.

Her research will complement the Center’s groundbreaking work in plant cereal crops and bioenergy grasses. Additionally, 3-4 scientific personnel will be recruited to her laboratory team over the next several months.

Eveland’s research focuses on understanding how inflorescences, the structures that bear flowers and ultimately grain, are formed in cereal crops, the underlying gene networks that control variation in inflorescence architecture and how this translates to increased yield.

Her research integrates computational and experimental approaches to develop predictive models for adaptation of cereal crops to changing environments and to define targets for enhancing yield potential.

Cereal crops are some of the most important, as they constitute a large portion of the world’s diet. They can also provide improved food security, nutrition and economic stability to smallholder farmers and their families.

After receiving her Ph.D. in plant molecular and cell biology in 2008 from the University of Florida- Gainesville, Eveland was a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in biological informatics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from 2008-2010, where she later became a computational postdoctoral fellow from 2010-2014 before joining the Danforth Center.

Eveland, who moved to St. Louis over the summer, is very excited to see what the new city will bring for her, “For me, St. Louis offers the best aspects of city living while maintaining a community feel. I am excited to explore St. Louis and all that it has to offer! From a scientific perspective, St. Louis has become a hub, not only for plant science, but across disciplines. The city bustles with innovation and there are great opportunities for collaborative ventures.”

For more information on the Center's newest hire, view the release here.

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